amae: (Default)
Just came back from a long overdue vacation to Tokyo! :3 I spent waaaaay too much money, but I regret nothing. I never knew how cheap Harajuku could be! Unfortunately, the cheaper something is, the more you buy, haha. But I got so many cute clothes, I'm just so happy. ;_;

I also went with friends to B. Lily Rose, my favorite butler cafe where girls dress up as guys (since it was on Halloween they were all dressed up as vampires and the like--very awesome) and Edelstein, the cafe where the waiters pretend to be boys at a German boarding school. It was ace. We were served by a 'first year' who was all nervous because apparently this was his first time at the place (whether that is true or not is up to debate, but it was cute so I don't care hahaha). Though I think he might have been a bit nervous because we were foreigners. XD; Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun!

Now I'm back at home preparing for my lessons tomorrow. Planning on teaching my kids about family members so I'm drawing pictures of a "mother", "father", "sister", "brother", "grandfather" and "grandmother". Though I'm a bit meh about tomorrow since it's at my least favorite school, I figure you can only dread so much--it's better to take things into your own hands. So hopefully with that in mind tomorrow will go smoothly. We'll see, I guess.

Also working on a belated Halloween picture for Overland, which won't see the light of day until I can finally buy that scanner I've been planning on getting my hands on. Oh well, next month.
amae: (happy times)
So I'm around, alive, and doing things.

I've kind of been avoiding posting anything, because my mood has been so up and down lately while I've been getting used to living here. Which is hilarious, because this is my third time in Japan! Where was this odd culture shock when I was first here? At any rate, it's been showing signs of gradually receding so I'm happy. :3

I think a good factor is because now I'm actually teaching. And it's so relieving, you have no idea. Having to sit in the teacher's room with absolutely nothing to do has been so excruciating, especially while my JHS was preparing for Sports Day. I felt so left out of everything, it was really getting to me. Now I actually have a purpose, and it feels good. Hopefully this feeling will last.

I teach at one junior high school and four elementaries, so five schools in total. I thought this would be difficult to juggle, but it's relatively simple since I spend most of my time at my JHS. The elementary schools are on rotation, so end up going to them every other week. The elementary kids are SO CUTE. You have no idea. It feels so great to teach them because they give you such a great reaction no matter what you do. This month has been all about me introducing myself, and it's hilarious the things that they end up getting exciting about. Like, when I mention that Ohio is next to Kentucky, they nearly explode in laughter because the only "Kentucky" they know is KFC, lol. Little things like that gets them so riled up, it's hard not to smile.

JHS...is not so easy to please, admittedly. They're getting to that age where being interested in things isn't so cool anymore, so their reaction is much more muted. But in the end they're still young, so when they find that they have something in common with me, they still get excited. Like this one kid in one of my second year classes, he got SO excited when I mentioned in passing that I like L'arc en Ciel lol. He was like, "What's your favorite song?!" And when I told him I like Hyde the best, he asked, "Okay, so what aspect of Hyde do you like the best?!". I was dignified and told him that I thought Hyde was really cool and I liked his voice because I didn't think it was appropriate to gush about his ABSOLUTE BEAUTY to a 13 year old boy, but...yes.

For all grades, the fact that I draw has helped me immensely with actually getting them to engage in conversation with me. It's no surprise that the elementary school kids get excited, but the JHS kids are just as drawn to it (that pun was totally unintentional l-lol) and that makes things a lot easier for me in the long run. It also helps that I speak Japanese so they're not afraid to talk to me, but the fact that they have something to talk to me about is crucial. One kid looked at my Lelouch picture and told me to draw Zero next, lol. And I got invited to the Art Club! I was hoping something like that would happen, because I wanted to interact with some of the kids outside of class as well.

I'm hoping that with some of these encounters I'll be able to weasel a bit of English out of them here and there, and if not, at least let them have a meaningful time with someone from outside their country. Little things like this can really change your perspective on things, so I hope that's what I'll be doing with them.

Incidentally, given my interests, I was asked (in English) if I was an otaku. OTL I...gracefully bowed out of that question. I'm so glad I removed that SUPAR GAY picture from my sketchbook, or I would be known for being a little more than an otaku pretty quickly hahaha...ha.

So I guess things are going pretty well! Now I need to see if I can get my hands on a cool Halloween costume for my inevitable Halloween class. Maybe I should dress up as an Otokoyaku again, hahaha.
amae: (Default)
So apparently I'll be working in Takaoka City in Toyama prefecture next year. Not my preference, but I like surprises so I'm looking forward to getting acquainted with the area. It's right next to the Japan Sea (I wonder if the weather there is as crazy as it was in Kanazawa?) and about an hour or so away from Kanazawa so I'm relatively close to my host family in there...though I'm a bit more separated from my Kyoto host family which kind of makes me sad. :( I'll still try to visit them whenever.

The good thing is that there seems to be a special page made for JETs working in Toyama- ToyamaJETs (you might want to check it out, [livejournal.com profile] nittle_grasper)...there seems to be quite a few people in the prefecture so at least I know I won't be completely alone, haha. Man! Learning about this has gotten me really excited for next year...even though I have my fair shares of worries too, haha. I've never truly lived on my own and suddenly I'll be doing that in a different country...here's wishing me luck, I suppose.

Finally!

Apr. 11th, 2009 01:00 pm
amae: (happy times)
I got the results back from the Boston Consulate and I was accepted into the JET Program!! Oh God, you have no idea how much of a relief this is, though I'm still boggled by how many (really qualified) people they didn't select...:/ *hugs everyone*

Turns out that they tried to send out the results to people who interviewed in Boston but their mail server crashed so they ended up having to snail mail everything. So basically, I was a wreck this week waiting for my results to come out...I'm surprised I got anything done.

At any rate, yay! One less thing to worry about! This really is my birthday month. :)

July 2022

S M T W T F S
     12
3456789
10111213141516
171819202122 23
24252627282930
31      

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 8th, 2025 03:04 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios